Safety seat buckle for aircraft and motor vehicles



`Iuly 27, 1965 A. FREW 3,196,509

SAFETY SEAT BUCKLE FOR AIRCRAFT AND MOTOR VEHICLES Filed Aug. 10, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4/ a. /0 4357 l 1 ,H, nM/2f. I I f/IZ 2732.

lill/Illu A a i S Null!! 3s i 2 i i nllhw" "/34 44 43 36 26 f 4 39 t 22 v 4 INVENTOR. H/ LHN L. FREW FITTORNEY July 27, 1965 A. L. FREw 3,196,509

SAFETY SEAT BUCKLE FOR AIRCRAFT AND MOTOR VEHICLES Filed Aug. l0, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @Si 'D am? www INVENTOR HLM-7N L. FREW FTTORNEY United States Patent O 3,196,569 SAFETY SEAT BUCKLE EUR AHRCRAFT AND MTGR VEHICLES Allan L. Frew, Woodbury, Conn., assigner to Waterbury Euckle Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Aug. 10, 1962, Ser. No. 216,151 1 Claim. (Cl. 24u-77) This invention relates to safety belts and more particularly to a belt buckle for securing a passenger of an aircraft or motor vehicle in his seat in order to prevent injury by sudden decelerating movements of the vehicle.

One object of the present invention is to provide a safety seat belt buckle of the above nature, which may be secured to the vehicle by a pair of webbing straps.

A further object of the invention is to provide a safety seat belt buckle having a detachable lever of pelican hook shape which can be easily and positively closed with almost complete visibility, as well as audibility, thus eliminating engagement guesswork, and which can be opened with either hand, but cannot be accidentally opened by a short inadvertent stroke ofthe hand.

A further object of the invention is to provide a safety seat belt buckle of the above nature, in which the lever will be prevented from opening by a pair of nubbns on the sides of the buckle housing as well as by the strain on the belt.

A further object is to provide a safety seat belt buckle of the above nature, which will be simple in construction,

which may be made of all metal parts, which will be inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, having no springs which are subject to breakage and which might cause injury to the wearers ngers when the belt lever is being closed or adjusted, which frequently occurs with the so-called mouse trap type of seat buckles, which will be ornamental in appearance, and very eflicient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawings one form in which the invention may conveniently be embodied in practice.

in the drawings:

FIG. 1 represents a top plan view of the improved safety seat belt buckle and the webbing straps to which it is attached, with the buckle lever shown in closed latched position.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the same, with the tongue of the buckle lever shown partly inserted through the eye slide prior to being swung to closed position.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the same, taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional View, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FlG. 6 is a side sectional view of the safety belt buckle, the eye slide, and the belt webbing straps, with the buckle lever shown in an intermediate position.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the pelican-shaped buckle lever shown by itself, and indicating the angular relationship between the curved sections thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates a U-shaped body member or housing having a pair of integral resilient convex side walls 11 and 12 bent upwardly at right angles thereto. The side walls 1l and 12 have curved pointed forward ends 11a and 12a, which are adapted to conform to the convex shape of said side walls, as clearly shown in FGS. 2, 4, 5, and 6.

"ice

The housing 1li is adapted to be adjustably secured to a webbing strap 14 which passes through a cross slot 13 in the base of said housing, as clearly shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing.

In order to permit the webbing strap 14 to be adjusted with respect to the housing 1li, provision is made of a transverse knurled cylindrical roller 15 having flat reduced ends 16, 17 which are adapted to be loosely received in a pair of inclined slots 18 and 19 formed in the upstanding side walls 11, 12 of the housing 10.

The base of the housing 1t) is also provided with a cross slot 2@ for receiving an inner curled end hook 36 of a pelican shaped buckle lever 32, to be described later.

ln order to permit the insertion of the knurled roller 15 into the housing 10 during the assembly of the buckle, provision is made in the upstanding side wall 11 of the housing 10 of a semicircular recess 21 communicating with the top of the inclined slot 18 in said side wall 11, and as clearly shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing, said recess is made slightly larger than the diameter of said roller 15.

After the knurled roller 15 has been assembled in position, it will be retained in the housing 10 by the head of a rivet 22 which passes through a rivet hole 22a in the side wall 11 of the housing 10, as clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 ofthe drawing.

The housing webbing strap 14 is adapted to engage an inclined guide strip 23 integral with the housing 10, which abuts against a pair of ilat sided stop lugs 24, 25 formed on the side walls 11 and 12 of said housing.

The resilient side walls 11 and 12 of the housing 10 are also provided on their inner edges with a pair of small round lever retaining knobs or nubbns 26, 27, which are adapted to be engaged by the tongue 33 of the pelican lever 32 to permit it to be swung into the closed position below said nubbns, as shown in FIG. 4, at which time said lever tongue 33 will engage the upper ilat sides of the stop lugs 24, 25 located on the side Walls of the housing 1l).

The base of the housing 1() is provided with three parallel cross bars 28, 29, 30, the front edge of the cross bar 30 having a concave linger engaging recess 31 (FIG. 3).

The end tongue 33 of the pelican lever 32 is of relatively large radius, and is integral with an intermediate arcuate section 34 of smaller radius which extends through an angle of about (FIGS. 6 and 7), and joins a semicircular arcuate section 35 of still smaller radius which terminates in the hook 36 which loosely embraces the rear cross bar 2S. It will be noted that the two arcuate sections 35, 36 are arranged in a substantially S-shaped formation.

Provision is also made of a substantially rectangular flat eye slide 37 having a cross slot 38 for permanently receiving a non-adjustable webbing strap 43, said slide also having a cross-slot 39 for receiving the end tongue `33 of the pelican lever 32.

The eye slide 37 is provided with three cross bars 40, 41, 4Z., as clearly shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing. The end of the webbing strap 43 is secured to the remainder of said webbing strap as by stitches 44, providing an end loop 45, which embraces the cross bar 40 of the eye slide 37.

The pelican hook lever 32 is also provided with an intermediate transverse section 46 at the inner end thereof (FIG. 3), which section 46 has a central recess 47 located between a pair of rectangular curved lugs 4S, 49 at the sides of said lever 32, said lugs being spaced from said intermediate section 46 by a pair of small pierced end recesses 5t), 51.

it is important that the curvature of the section 34 of the pelican lever 32 be made concentric with the outer hook section 36 when said lever 32 is assembled. This is a .To assemble thel buckle to the webl'aingrstrapsV 14, the housing 10 Will be held in'onehandvr ofthe wearer; y

Ywith the lever 32 inlopen position, and with the eyelslide n' load required by the Federal'SpecificationsY was appliedY thereto in the case of a curve withian increasing radius. Y s

. Operation f 37 held in his other hand. The tongue 33 yof the lever 32 will then be inserted upwardly through the slot 39 of the eye slide 37, and swung as far as it will go,afte r which said tongue 33 willsnap downbeyond the'nubbins 26, 27

of the resilient end walls 11, V12.. The wearer Willvthen adjust the webbing'fstrap `1'41to 'the mosti comfortable and lsafe position according to the'sizefo'f his waist.

In case of anI "accident,l .atthernomentlof the greatestl i' lustration only, and that theinventionis not limited to the Vspecific disclosure, but may be modied and embodied in various other equivalent forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all f the modications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

' Having 'thus fullyV described the Vinvention what is claimed as new and for Patent is: t

In a-safety seat beltifor a vehicle, a pair of flexible Web- Which it is desired tofsecure 'Letters ibing strapsV adapted' to be secured to said vehicle, a rectangular `flat eye slide permanently secured to one of .Y said straps and having a cross slot, and a buckle adjust- Y ablyzsecured tothe other' of said straps, said buckle comprising a U-shaped housing having a base and a pair of resilient upstandingV side walls provided with inwardly ex- 7 tending nubbins at the upper edges thereosaid base having a rear crossbar', and a pelican-hook shaped lever hav- Vv ing one' end of lrelatively smallradius hooked over said` pressure '.on'the safety belt assembly, itwill be almost ini-V possible-with thezpr'esent improvedV safety-buckle for the wearers arm to accidently flip open theleverY 32,' which'is held by the` .nubbinsl of the resilientjsidewalls 10,211 of the housing'l." Y Y v f f One advantage 'of the improvedseat belt buckle is that crossbar'and having a curved tongue'of larger `,radius Yfor insertio'n'through the cross slot'of saidreye slide, the end of said tongue, being held'd'ownv inrclosed position by said nubbins and the'resiliencyof said side Walls permitting seaidnubbins to be spread apart Vwhen moving said tongue into orout Aof its closed position, said one end of said lever which is hooked over-said crossbar including two transthat it is extremely easy to adjust it to fit the wearer afterV n it is closed. Thisris' accomplished merely by pulling theV free end 'of the webbing strap'14 toY tighten theadjustrnent to the wearers comfort. This Yadjustment can be Ymade Withone hand, as it is unnecessary to changeV the position of the knurled roller 15to1either tighten or loosen the 'belt'y assembly.

Another advantage of the present inventionisfthatthe two end lugs 48, 49 `at therear of the pelican lever 32 are of such vshort Vlength thatV they Ymay be bent aroundV the cross bar 2S in the 'inal'assembly, after they have been Y hardened, usingA only aY small force as compared to that which would'otherwise be requiredto bend the full width ofthe hook v36 of.the"pelican'lever32 around said cross bar. f

A further advantage of thef improved safety buckle that the eye'slide 37 is wider than the buckle' housing v10 1 and thelever 32,'.and'henc`e is strongerthan the narrow eye slides of previous buckles.

. A further advantage isthat the'eye slide may be hooked to the pelican' lever witheither side up, and thus the en-l gagement with the housing will'be universal withoutthe possibility of false security engagements. Y' While there has been disclosed in this specification-one formjin which the invention may be embodied, it is to be Y n Y Y DONLEYJ. STOCKING, Primary Examiner.

understood-that this form is shown'fvor the 'purpose of i1- Y versely 'spaced lugs and an intermediateV portion located betweenV said two lugs,"said one Yend in the Vtransverse zone of said twol'ugs embracing said crossbar by an extent sutil- ,cient toV prevent 'the disassembly 'of saidlever from said Y crossbar andrin the transverse zone of said intermediate portion 'embracingrsaid' crossbarpb'y an extent less than fenough to prevent the disassembly ofrsaid leverfrom said crossbar but' 'surlicient tocause it to "engage said crossbar vwhen saidlever` Vis in yitsV closed position, with `the result that saidlever may be nonremovably secured to'said crossbar by'bendingY only said lugs vand Without bending'said intermediate portion.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITEDVV STATES PATENTS 10/24 `}'Cl{.' t1t.. l 2.4-69

1,672,078 6/28 Neg1er1 24-.69 j-2,836,868 'v6/5s Carters-; 2li-.77

2,876,516YYY '3/59. VCummings 24-75 12,964,815 12/60- sereno v 1124-75 .Y 'n ForverGN PATENTS 1,058,709 'Y6/59 Germany.v 

